One of the most popular attractions at any amusement park has historically been the roller coaster, distinguished through the years only by height and advanced technological variations. How unfortunate that we cannot view the psychological roller coaster rides of life more objectively. Although there is no physical thrill to be had while plunging instantly from great psychological heights to seemingly fathomless depths there should be something to be gained from the experiences that continue throughout one’s pilgrimage through this earthly plane. None can escape elation over happy, jubilant and cherished moments of life but we are forewarned in most religious dispensations of the perpetual shifting of such emotions. Yet our spirits invariably soar in times of happiness and quickly become crushed beneath the weight of disappointment, sorrow and sadness, regardless of our professed faith.
It is in view of such vulnerability that, through the hype of mass media, our emotions are easily manipulated, ranging from anxiety to deep depression that too often leads to over (or under) the counter and prescription, mind-altering drugs–a $-multi-billion business throughout this nation and abroad.
This could not prevail if one was more cognizant of the inconceivable age in which we are living with its unparalleled bounties, potentialities and right discoveries–being commonly used for all the wrong reasons. Such deprivation by choice is the cruel reality propelling the emotional roller coaster riding that feeds the vicious cycle. Unfortunately bounty and appreciation are not synonymous. The greater the bounties enjoyed the less they are appreciated and the more they are used to isolate one’s self and exclude others, depriving us of so much.
It is through such blinding prejudice and greed that our nation is currently being held hostage through a lamentably flawed partisan political system that would rather see it fall, taking everyone including other nations with it, rather than allow a man of color to be credited with saving it from “the ruins they had wrought.” Slow though the process may seem, lets compare it to the 12 years it took to get us into the deplorable economic recession inherited and the two-and-a-half years the current administration has had to turn it around–after immediately stopping the hemorrhaging.
At this most critical juncture in the history of mankind be assured that “Man’s merit lieth in service and virtue and not in the pageantry of wealth and riches.”
Therefore, let your actions be a guide unto all mankind that your emotional roller coaster rides may also become more pleasurable for, “That one indeed is a man who dedicateth himself to the service of the entire human race, and blessed and happy is he that ariseth to promote the best interest of the peoples and kindreds of the earth!”
